The Spider and the Moth
by Nightmare on Titan
Summary: Established Peter/OC. Ophelia Salazar's life is in danger when she is attacked during her internship interview at Stark Industries. When neither SHEILD, nor the illusive 'Spiderman' can protect her, her little sister, and the students at her school, she takes matters into her own hands.


**Re-edited, and re-posted. Set before the events of 'Carnage'. **

She was nervous, yes, much more nervous than she had ever been in her entire life, more than when she was the geeky girl, covered in zits, braces, glasses, frizzy hair, and a speech impediment, asking the most popular guy in school to the eighth grade dance, of course that didn't work out, but this was much, much bigger than some silly dance. Today was her interview for internship for Stark Industries. She needed the credits for college, and thought that if she got the job now and kept it, she would be set for New York University. She knew it would be better to be over qualified than under. Though before I continue on with this tale, this is something you need to know about our dear protagonist.

Her name is Ophelia Salazar, called Lila by her friends. Her family has lived in New York ever since she could remember. Their family wasn't poor, but they weren't that well off either. They lived in an apartment that had a kitchen, a bathroom, two bedrooms, and a living room. Ophelia lived with her mother, and her baby sister Renée, who Ophelia opted to call Reese. Ophelia shared a room with Reese, which had her bed, a crib, changing table, a desk covered in scattered papers, with a laptop in the middle of the chaos, a closet, whose door had a calendar pinned to it, another desk with a microscope, empty vials in their stand, and two tanks on the top ledge with grated lids. They were lined with white bedding, and a wooden hutch, water bottle, and food dish in each one. One cage had a large male rat in it, with dingy white fur with brown hooding, and in the other two small females that where white with dark grayish brown hooding and had fine, soft fur. The male was named Mischa, and the females were named Moshay and Cocoa.

Ophelia was always the geeky girl. she was bullied when she was younger. She used to have bright red zits, thick glasses that magnified her grey eyes, braces that covered her crooked teeth, and frizzy, uncontrollable hair. Over her transition time from junior high, to high school, she changed so much that no one recognized her. The zits were gone, leaving behind nearly flawless skin, which only had a few scars on her cheeks and jaw, and a light dusting of freckles over the bridge of her nose, her braces gone, replaced by a barely noticeable retainer, and her face freed from her bulky glasses replaced with contacts. Her hair had become more manageable, she lost a lot of weight and now had soft curves, and long legs that grew over the summer. Suddenly all the jocks that had pushed her down in the halls, stole her homework, and vandalized her locker wanted to take her out for a movie, or dinner. She always declined, of course, and stuck with her old friends, Peter Parker, Janine Busche, Gregory Taylor, Fiona and Katie Sunderland, and Kalid Focrey. They were her only friends growing up, and were all fellow science fanatics. They had all made a tight knit group of friends when they met in fifth grade for the robotics team.

Now, in her sophomore year, Ophelia had long blonde hair that was always pullled back, skin that was tan from the harsh summers she spent in Tenessee with her aunt, and light grey eyes with flecks of honey brown in them. She had small, plump lips, full cheeks that always had a blush on them, and a slight, hardly noticeable split chin. She still felt uncomfortable about her body, but even then she didn't feel the need to change. It was her mother that took the incentive to change her shampoo, get her contacts and acne cream, and change her wardrobe.

Now, back to our story. Ophelia was dressed in a dark grey pencil skirt and blazer, with a light pink blouse on was running late, her fifth hour teacher had kept her after class for half an hour after she was blamed for throwing a ball of paper at the back of his head and was in a rush, only having time run home, get dressed, throw up her hair in a sloppy bun, and thrown on her old, worn out boots. She zoomed around the streets of New York on her cherry red motorcycle. She had the plastic shield of her helmet up and was holding up a compact to her face applying her makeup at red lights. She had already applied her lipstick and mascara, and was attempting to cover up her scars. Her rats were calm, but clung to her to much and ended up scratching her, not to mention when she even attempted to bathe them. They all hated bath time, and her hands were still healing from when she last tried to wash Mischa. Ophelia almost passed the building but skidded into the parking lot and hopped off, running into the building while she tried to fix her hair.

"Hello, welcome to Stark Industries, how may I help you?" she asked in an overly sweet voice. Ophelia fixed her purse, whose strap was nestled in the crook of her arm, and smiled back.

"Yes, I have an interview with Mr. Stark. My name Ophelia Salazar." She fumbled around her purse for her wallet and flipped it open to show her drivers license. She tried her hardest not to pick at her red nail polish that she had just painted the night before. The secretary, whose name plate said 'Heather Loupes' typed at her computer, checking the appointment schedule for that day. She looked back up to her and smiled.

"Alight Ms. Salazar, I'll page you in. Please enter the left door behind me. Go to the end of the hallway. They'll be an elevator on your right. Take it to the 34th floor. It may startle you, but JARVIS, an AI, will guide you to Mr. Stark's lab." Heather pressed a button and there was a buzz and the door clicked open. Ophelia nodded curtly at Heather and walked to the door, going through, and pulling it closed. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, trying to shake her nerves. She opened them back up and walked to the end of the hall that seemed to stretch on forever, a blur of charcoal carpet and cream walls, like the kind you'd see in a doctor's office. She finally reached the doors of the elevator and hit the up button. When the doors finally opened she stepped in and hit the '34' button. She shook her hands out, taking in deep breaths.

_'This is it, this is it. This is my turning point, you can do this Lila, for mom, for Reese, for dad,' _she reassured herself. Her father was killed before she was born. Her mother never told her how, or when, all she did say was that he was a good man, and loved her, and that he died when she was young. Ophelia couldn't remember anything, but she had many pictures of him. Her mother said she had to move on, and started dating a man whose name was Norman Osborn. Yes, he was rich and a bit out of her league, but they were head over heels in love. It took him a while to gain her approval, for she had never really had grown up around men, but eventually their dual interest of science was able to get them over the 's mom refused to accept any money, and in return, he came over anytime he could and hung out with them. Harry, his son, even came over after school. Lila was a little angry to find out that Renée was Norman's daughter, but the way he looked at her mom in the hospital after she was born, handing Renée to her. She couldn't deny her mom happiness. After Lila's mom returned to her full time job, Norman would watch Ophelia, on days where he could leave the office, as she rushed around her room, which he had dubbed her lab, writing down equations, doing homework, taking care for Renée, paying attention to her girls, who were always rowdy, while he did work for his corporation. It made her happy having Norman being comfortable enough to joke with her. She full well knew he had seen real labs before, where actual research was going on. He had been missing for nearly three months, much to their distress. Harry had said that he had been very ill, but Ophelia could sense that he wasn't telling her the whole truth.

The elevator dinged, and the doors opened. On the way up she had fixed her hair the best she could, and opened a few buttons on her blouse. She knew Tony Stark liked a little eye candy, it was the reason she wore one of her push up bras that she absolutely hated. They were always so itchy and left marks. She took another deep breath and stepped out into a lobby. It had a few tables, chairs, and a well worn sofa that Tony usually crashed on if he couldn't make it home, let alone the elevator. She walked out a few steps, confused. _'Shouldn't his lab be here_…?' she thought to herself.

"Hello ma'am," said a British accented voice from seemingly no where. It startled her, causing her to jump a bit and look around for the person who was talking to her. "I am sorry for startling you Ms. Salazar. If you would enter the left most door, Mister Stark will be waiting for you." Ophelia, though thoroughly scared, thank the ceiling awkwardly and made her way to the door. She knocked on the door lightly, scaring herself when the door slid open

"Hello, Mr. Stark?" she asked, hesitantly. Tony was sitting at one of his tables working, a black tank top on, and black jeans, his arc reactor glowing through the material of his shirt. He turned around to face her, a smirk on his lips, along with a streak of grease on the side of his face.

"Come in, have a seat. Ophelia was it?" She nodded and resisted the urge to jump when the door slid shut behind her. She was used to much low tech things, such as doors with knobs, and the assistant down in the lobby of her apartment building, not sliding doors and artificial intelligence. The only time she had used sliding doors was at the grocery store, or the mall and they weren't certainly anything like this. Lila smoothed the back of her skirt as she sat down on one of his benched in front of him. "Alright Ophelia, why do you want this internship with Stark Industries?" Tony wiped his hands on a rag and threw it on the table.

"Well, I'm trying to get a head start on college, so I can get my degree in forensic engineering," she told him, fiddling with a loose thread on her blazer. Tony nodded, uninterested in her. Ophelia could feel panic rising in her chest. She knew she wasn't doing well, and she hadn't even been in there for a minute!

"Hey! Are those the gauntlets your working on?" she said, trying to engage him in conversation. It seemed to barely work with him, and she got a half assed 'yeah' from him. She probably seemed stupid to him, pointing out the obvious. She bore a heartbroken expression that barely showed on her smiling face. Her mind was going a million miles an hour on how stupid she sounded, and how she'll never get the job, and how she'll be the laughing stock of her friends, and people would never respect her as an intelligent student instead of a pretty face this way, and-

There was a faint beeping coming from outside, which made her stop herself, a confused look on her face. She turned her head to the frosted glass door, tilting her head slightly. Tony stood up, and took a few steps before a giant ball of fire engulfed the door and the shockwave from the blast sent everything flying. Ophelia was thrown from the blast, face planting into the floor, getting a large scrape on her forehead. She managed to stand up, small shards of glass and metal imbedded in her knees and hands. The stench of blood and smoke hung thickly in the air. It made her stumble and cough with every inhale. She had asthma, really badly, and needed her inhaler even when someone in school sprayed perfume. She couldn't see her bag any where. She covered her mouth and walked around, cautiously feeling around the floor with her foot, he chest contracting and pulsating from the lack of air. Her toes nudged something heavy and soft. The light of the arc reactor pulsated dimly through the smoke. She fells down to her knees and lightly smacked Tony's face, in attempts to wake him up. But alas, he had hit his head pretty hard on the floor. She spotted her bag under his sprawled out arm.

"Ventilation, is there any ventilation?" she croaked, unsurely, falling into another coughing fit. Ophelia couldn't breathe. It felt like someone had shoved cotton down her throat. Her hands shakily pulled her bag out from under Tony, rummaging inside for her inhaler as the whirring of fans started, vacuming most of the thick smoke from the room. She finally found it as she was gasping for the air she couldn't take in. She shook it a few times and put it up to her mouth, breathing in the medicine. Ophelia felt the swelling go down and expand, and she gasped for air. Her hands placed themselves on his shoulders, and shook him, and even slapped his face gently a few times. But no amount of shaking, or slapping, could get him up.

Of course Ophelia knew Tony Stark was Iron Man, and she knew he had a lot of enemies. It could really be anyone, maybe even someone else's enemy. The villains were known to attack other hero's in spite of them. She stood up, brushing the dust from her skirt, and pried a pipe out that was trapped under a heavy toolbox, and fell flat on her but when it was released. If there was a bad guy, she would need to defend herself. She, of course, as a nerd, was utterly obsessed with horror movies and video games, the subject of zombies being her favorite, and she had picked up a thing or two. The lights from both the lobby and Tony's labs were either completely destroyed, or cracked, causing them to flicker, setting and eerie tone to the rooms. The main lights came from further back in the lab and the lobby, away from the blast zone. There was a deep chuckle and some entered the room, on something similar to a hover board. It was a large, green, person, dressed in a black jumpsuit and armor, but it was certainly not the Hulk. She held her pipe up high and struck down on him repeatedly putting as much force into each blow as she could. He simply laughed louder and swung a punch in her direction.

"Silly girl, you must be humoring me, no one, especially someone like you, can hurt me!" Ophelia managed to duck, and scrambled away, looking for a gun, anything that could do more damage, or hopefully knock him out. The best she could find that she knew how to work was a lighter. She let out an aggravated grunt, grabbed it, and continued to run away from him, trying to keep her footing when ever a bomb exploded near her. She assumed he must have been entertaing her, for she knew he could very easily catch up to her, or hit her with one of the bombs. She heard a metallic clatter that was very familiar. When she was barely awake, and her mom was getting ready in the morning, she sometimes dropped her can of hair spray. Her eyes widen as she darted to grab it. It was a can of pressurized air to clean computer keyboards, or more likely for a lab, delicate machines. She pulled the cap off and struggled to get the lighter on. Once the flame finally flickered on, she sprayed the can into it, directed right at the Green Goblin. She averted her eyes as the flames burned him.

"St-stay back! I went through a pyromaniac stage as a kid!" she exclaimed, taking a few steps away from him. He smacked the lighter and canned air from her hands, and brushed off a scorch mark from his face, an annoyed grimace on his face. She stumbled back as he edged forward. He grabbed her by the throat, tightly, raising her up from the floor. Ophelia kicked her legs, desperately trying to land a blow. Her chest was burning, and her neck ached. He squeezed tighter while her hands clawed at his, trying to pry it off. Her vision started to turn dark, spots appearing everywhere. Out of the corner of her eye she saw something glass and white, and she felt a piercing pain on her side. His grip on her loosened a bit, only to feel a prick in the base of her skulll. He sneered at her, his eyes squinting, then threw her to the floor. Her neck was bruised, and she had a split lip. She coughed and sputtered, making wheezing noises. There was a flash of light, and the Green Goblin was blasted into the wall. Tony was standing in front of her in his Iron Man suit, holding a hand out. She took it and was pulled up to her, swaying a little, and holding her hand to the side of her head in pain.

"Are you alright Ophelia?" She nodded, leaning against Tony for support, trying to hold back whimpers. Her head was on the verge of a horrible migraine. She wiped some of the blood from her mouth, crinkling her nose at the metallic taste.

"A-and what about you? You w-were out pretty cold earlier," she told him, catching her breath. Her side started to ache where she had felt the prick. It made her stomach churn, like she was about to get sick. She really hoped she didn't, that would be one more unpleasant mess for someone to clean up.

"Thanks to your little flame thrower escapade, I was able to get in my suit. You're lucky, you know that, anyone else and the Goblin would have killed you on the spot-." Green Goblin dislodged himself from the wall and charged at them, knocking Tony down, but grabbed Ophelia by the arm. He hopped on his hover board and flew out of the lab, and the hole in the wall he came threw. Tony chased him out and saw him holding Ophelia in his outstretched hand. She was screaming now, both from fear and pain. Her shoulder had been popped out of it's socket in the process, and a whole 142 pounds of weight pulling down on her arm didn't help. If it weren't for the muscle surounding it, she was certain it would have been torn right out.

"This is it Iron Man," he spat, jiggling Lila to scare her, making a yelp come from her, and tears to spring from her eyes. "Either save the girl, or capture me. Your choice." He grinned manically and pulled Ophelia towards him. "Tell Renée I said hello," he whispered before letting her slip from his hand. Her body plummeted towards the ground, screaming. She was never a religeous person, but yet she found herself praying for her survival. She clenched her eyes closed, waiting for the impact of the street. What was one person to Tony Stark when he could be putitng away a villian for good, right? Instead she felt cool metal on the bends of her knees, back, and arms. She opened her eyes in confusion, only to see the face of said Tony Stark staring at her.

"But, I thought you…" she trailed off as he set her down. She nearly collapsed from the shock, but was kept upright by Tony. He smirked and shook his head.

"You seem surprised that I have a heart kiddo. It's alright, most people are," he retorted jokingly. She nodded with a breathless laugh, pulling herself from his grip.

"So… So does this mean I got the internship? I-I don't mean to be rude o-or anything-." He stopped her with a finger to her lips, chuckling with a huge grin on his face.

"Yes," he told her. She furrowed her brows in confusion.

"Yes I'm being rude?" she asked him, worry momentarily rising up. This time he laughed, patting her back.

"No, yes as in 'yes, you got the internship'. There aren't very many people that can handle themselves against a super villian, and I'm sure there's going to be plenty more too, I needed someone who can keep calm, and be resorceful. Though, for the record, that wasn't planned," Tony watched as her eyes grew wide with happiness. She leaped in and hugged him, even though he was still in his suit. "Now get home and get some sleep. I want to see you at the lab bright and early Friday," he told her, almost seriously. He tapped her arm and she winced, and gave a small nod. He took that as a yes and roughly popped her arm back in place, making a pained grunt come from her. She weakly saluted and limped over towards her motorcycle.

"I won't let you down Sir!" she yelled at him as she got on her ride. She paused for a moment and her eyes grew wide for a different reason. The Green Goblin got away, and he knew her little sister's name.

"Shit!" she hissed. She threw her helmet on, and put the kickstand up. She was about to ride out into the street, but Tony stopped her, noticing her freak out.

"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned. She flipped the shield on her helmet up to tell him. Her mascara was smeared around her eye, along with bits of dust on her face.

"The Goblin, he knows my sister's name." She flipped the shield back down and drove off. She nearly got multiple tickets from speeding, driving in between cars, and running stop signs. She lazily parked and locked her motorcycle up, running inside with her helmet under her arm. The elevator would have been too slow, so she ran up the stairs, knowing her sister could be gone when she reached their home. She realized though she had left her purse at Tony's lab and cursed under her breath. She stood on the tips of her toes and ran her fingers on the molding of the doors, glad her mother kept the spare key there. Someone put their hands on her side and kissed her cheek. She shook him off to unlock the door.

"Peter, now really isn't the time," she told him. The door unlocked with a click and she nearly tore the door off its hinges getting in. She didn't bother to close it. Peter knew that tone in her voice. They had only been dating for almost two years now, but he knew when she was panicking. He had heard it plenty of times when she was late for class, or when she didn't study for tests, or didn't complete projects until the last minute. But this was different, it sounded more intense.

"Lila…What happened?" She darted into her room, ignoring him for the moments being. Peter heard Reese crying in the other room, and the pattering of Lila's rats as they anxiously paced back in forth in their cages.

"DAMNIT YOU PSYCHO, NO!" he heard her scream. Peter dropped the bundle of flowers he was holding. He was going to surprise her with them, but her screaming terrified him. He had only heard her scream once, and it was the worst experience in the world to see someone so calm that angry. She didn't handle stress well, and when Peter had told her about his Uncle Ben dieing, he was certain she was going to have a mental break down. In the time that she had knew him, they had clicked together, her sort of seeing him as a father figure due to the lack of hers. He ran into her room, and felt his heart drop. Ophelia was holding Renée in her arms, swaddled in a light pink blanket. His worst nightmare had come true. Goblin was holding her at gun point.

"Just give me her, and you won't be hurt." Ophelia held her sister in her arms tighter, a sign that she would not be giving her up. Peter backed out so he could peer in and not be seen. The Goblin gave a warning shot near her foot, which made her leap back and yelp. Peter ran into the bathroom, glad that he packed his suit. He scrambled to get it on, and then hid his normal clothes and backpack under the sink. The spike of adrenaline got him dressed in an almost immpossible speed. He ran back out and used his webs to rip the gun from the Goblin's hand, flinging it away from him. He knew Ophelia was too scared to noticed he entered from the hallway instead of the window. He plastered webbing on his face, and webbed his arms to the wall, using it as a distraction to get Ophelia out. He took her to her mother's room and opened her closet door. He moved around a few boxes and ushered her in.

"Whatever you do, stay her, and stay quiet until I come back to get you or that guy whose knocked out in the bathroom does." She nodded and whispered thanks. Peter handed her a nearby binkie, then piled clothes on top of her, shutting the closet door. He went back to Lila's room, where the Goblin had just finished tearing the web off.

"Hey, come and get me you freak!" he yelled at him, lifting up his mask to blow him a raspberry. He flung a web out the window, swinging past him and out into the streets. He tapped him on the shoulder on the way. "Tag! You're it loser!" he laughed. The Green Goblin irritably yelled, and chased after him.

After a while, Peter had lost him in a series of alleyways, and deemed it safe enough of go back. It took him a while to find his way, but he eventually did. The sun was just barely about to set, being nearly an hour to get him to a point where SHEILD could deal with him, and then another two to figure out how he was going to get back, and get there. He had used the spidey cycle to get most of the way there, but now it was out of fuel, he had no web fluid left, and he couldn't wait around for SHEILD to lend him something.

When he crawled through her window, he could feel his body aching. Peter was thankful that Ophelia was a heavy sleeper, and by now she would be out cold. She usually took naps when she was stuck somewhere for long periods of time, for example, during sporting events, and even once during a pep ralley. He went into the bathroom and got dressed in his normal clothes. He closed the door, braced himself, and then threw himself through it. Peter shook himself off and went into her mother's room, opening the closet door. He moved around the clothes he had dumped on top of her, and surely enough, she was asleep. He grabbed her by the shoulders and lightly shook her.

"Lila," he spoke softly, smoothing her hair. She let out a small groan and shifted. "Ophelia, are you awake?" Her eyes fluttered open as she let out a big yawn, trying to stretch in the cramped space. He helped her get out from the closet and held Reese while she stretched. He handed her back, and she let him know that she was going to change her diaper, and it would be wonderful if he could get a bottle ready for her. He smiled and agreed, and by the time it was ready, Ophelia had gotten Renée in a clean diaper, and a clean outfit, a pair of white footie pajamas with pink and blue flowers on them. She held the baby in her arms and fed her in the living room, finding a comfortable spot on the couch. Peter sat next to her, putting an arm around her should. The only sound in the room was the faint honking of cars, and Renée suckling her bottle, making small, pleased noises.

Peter had silently gotten up to get a dish of warm water, a wash cloth, and the first aid kit. He sat the bowl in his lap and turned Ophelia's face towards him. He got the washcloth damp and started wiping the dried blood from her face, starting with her forehead. He gently wiped the caked blood and dust away, occasionally leaning forward to peck her on the cheek. He was careful when he cleaned around her eye and lips. One of her eyes was already dark and puffed up, and her lip had been split. All of the blood was gone, and the water was now cold and a murky brown. Small amounts of bright red blood was already dribbling from her wounds. Peter got up to get a fresh bowl of water. From what he could tell, her knees and hands were pretty messed up.

He set it down on the coffee table and opened the first aid, pulling out the peroxide and cotton balls. He soaked one of them, and dabbed the large wound on her head. She hissed at the burning sensation. He held one of her hands and saw that there was glass still imbedded in the heel. He pulled tweezers from the first aid and plucked out the tiny shards out from her hand and let it clink into a mug that sat on the coffee table. He was sure that all of them were gone, he cleaned her hands and knees, then took another peroxide soaked cotton ball and dabbed her hand with it. She tried to pull her hand away, but Peter held onto it tightly. He had Ophelia switch Renée to the other arm, and did the same process to the other hand. He took out gauze and wrapped her hands and knees in it, and put band aids on the cuts on her face. He cupped Ophelia's face in his hands, slowly rubbing his thumbs over her cheeks. She was biting down on the inside of her lip, and Renée was about to roll out of her arm.

"Did you hurt your arm?" he asked. Ophelia hesitantly nodded, switching Renée to her other arm.

"Yeah," she croaked, her voice rough and broken. "I dislocated my shoulder, but, uh, Tony popped it back into place." She looked at her twiddling fingers, wincing as she pointed towards the linen closet for an arm sling. She still had it from the time when she fell off the bleachers at school and broke her arm. Peter walked over and rummaged around until he found it at the bottom of a pile of sheets. He carefully slid it over her neck and made sure her arm was nestled securely inside. He cupped her cheek and brushed her hair from her face.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked. She shook her head, but scooted closer to him, tucking her face into the crook of his neck. He could hear her silently sobbing. "Isn't your mom supposed to be home by now?" She shook her head.

"No," she cried, muffled by his skin. He wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back soothingly. Her voice was cracking up more than his when he first hit puberty. "She's on a business trip for another week and a half." He kissed her on her temple, lightly on the bandage covering the cut on her other temple.

"Do you want to go over my house?" She nodded, placing a kiss on his jaw. "Alright, I'll go pack you and Reese a bag," he told her, smiling. He pecked her on the lips and went to pack her some things, along with baby formula, diapers, and other things for Renée. He walked back out, the bag slung over his shoulder, and his backpack on the other one. Ophelia stood up, and Peter wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Together, they left the apartment building. It was a quick walk from her house to his, and when they reached his house, and walked in. Ophelia nearly collapsed in one of the kitchen chairs, frowning at the table.

"Aunt May, can Ophelia stay ove-?" May was already all over her patting her cheeks and petting her hair, and vocally voicing her displeasure with her current appearance. His aunt May scuttled around the kitchen, and in no time flat she had a cup of tea in front of her. It took up until then for Peter to notice Coulson sitting at the table eyeing them. He knew his aunt May would be busy questioning Ophelia, giving her pain medication, and codling Renée, so Peter slid up next to him. He didn't need to be told twice before her told everything to Coulson.

"She said she got attack at her intern interview with Tony by Norman," he said in a voice that was barely above a whisper. "He came to her home and tried to kidnap Renée, Ophelia's little sister." Aunt May was re-checking over Peter's job with patching her up, and tittered at her arm, saying it wasn't put back in properly. She lead her out of the kitchen and presumably into the living room.

"Why would the Goblin target her?" he questioned. Peter stared up at Phil for a moment before his eyes darted to the tile on the kitchen floor.

"Norman and her mom dated before… And they had a child…" 

"Renée?" Peter nodded. A loud scream came from the living room, followed by quiet whimpering. The two girls walked back into the kitchen, the sling repositioned on Ophelia and tears welling up at the corner of her eyes. She sat back down and quietly sipped at her tea, ignoring principal Coulson all together, and stared down at her tea in between sips like it held all the answers to life's greatest mysteries. Loud stomping and chatter came from the living room, and one by one the rest of Spiderman's team filed into the small space. After a brief momentary shock of Coulson being there, they noticed Ophelia slouched over drinking her tea. She reached up momentarily to wipe her good eye. Aunt May was cooing to Renée, trying to calm her down enough so she would go to sleep. Ava was the first one to speak up about Ophelia.

"Who's she?" Ave asked, pointing to Ophelia, who was back to staring into her drink. She didn't seem to notice the other teens staring at her. She licked her lips and got up to rinse out her empty cup, and put it in the dish washer. She noticed the four of them staring at her when she turned back around. She looked to the ground nervously and excused herself, picking up her bag on the way out with her good arm. May excused herself and rushed out to grab Peter's old crib from the basement for Renée. Coulson sighed and left, knowing that they would be having a busy night ahead. He nodded at the team and exited through the same doors as the two previous women did. Peter's team turned to stare at him. He smiled back at them innocently.

"Peter-" Ava was about to corner him and ask him why there was some stranger in the house, wounded, and crying over a mug of tea, but he tried to run out. Luke grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back into the kitchen before he could make his escape. He never did introduce her to his friends. She somehow always manage to squirm her way out of Peter's grip when he tried introducing her to them. When he had confronted her about it, she said she didn't like them, from what she heard from Henry. It didn't help either that there was only one time they saw each other during the school day. It was the passing time between 4th and 5th period. She had a sepperate lunch from the rest of them.

"So you're taking in strays now, huh Pete?" Sam joked, poking him in the side.

"She's not a stray!" he shouted, slapping Sam's hand away from him. Danny cocked his head to the side, in thought. Sam backed away from him, hands held up. He could see the angry scowl on Peter's face, and a faint pink blush on his cheeks.

"Whoa dude, it was only a joke, calm down," he said. Peter sighed and ran a hand roughly through his hair, and sat down at the table. He looked absolutely spent, both physically and mentally. He had been wondering why Goblin had followed him for so long when he wanted Renée that badly, he would have ditched him in the middle of the chase to go get her. He really did wonder, but eventually got a headache.

"Sam, I just- give it a break, I spent an hour getting chased by Goblin, I don't have the energy to deal with you right now." Danny looked at Petter and nudges the others, telling them it would be for the best if they didn't push any further. He could feel the anger rolling off of Peter in waves, the gears in his brain turning at a thousand miles a minute.

"That was Ophelia Salazar, if I'm not mistaken," Danny said, crossing his arms. Peter slightly raised one of his eyebrows slightly, confused that his friend knew her. From what he knew, she had none of her classes with any of them. "We are in Ms. Maholitch's study hall together 3rd period together." Peter nodded his head and sighed. He had completely forgot about study hall. Danny was the only one of them who had it. Ava crossed her arms over her chest and shifted her weight to the other foot, staring down Peter.

"Why is this Ophelia person here anyways?" she asked. Peter sighed and gripped his hair, rubbing his forehead with the heel of his palm.

"Norman attacked her, so she's staying here for now. He's after her sister, or at least he pretends to be, I'm not sure anymore..." Peter groaned and let his head fall down onto the table. "Just one more thing to worry about." Everyone else took a seat at the table, save for Sam, who was scavanging the fridge for something to eat. The team sat there quietly for a few minutes, only Sam making remarks about Peter's choice to buy snack packs.

"How close are you with her?" Luke asked. Peter lifted his head up, looking at his team mate. "I mean, if this were anyone else, you wouldn't be that stressed, right?" Peter looked away from him, gripping the material of his shirt, a faint blush on his cheeks.

Ophelia, after leaving the kitchen, made a bee-line to Peter's room. She couldn't stand being in the clothes she was now. They were dirty and ripped up, far from being salvaged. She carefully took off her sling before discarding her blazer and shirt. On her stomache there was a red welt from where she vaguelly remembered feeling that pain. When she touched it, it stung, bur felt hot, like the feverish skin of someone ill. Stupidly enough, she pressed it, and instantly regreted it as a sharp pain rocketed through her abdomen. A small gasp escaped from between her clenched teeth, and if she hadn't of grabbed the dresser, she would have fallen to the floor. In her haze of pain she could hardly care whether or not it was too late to see someone about what had happened. She stumbled over to the bed and sat down, looking through the bag.

Ophelia wasn't suprised when she found niether a bra, nor a tank top. She looked through one of Peter's drawers and snatched one of his tank tops out of there, completely missing his spare mask before she closed it. She took off her bra and quickly slipped on the shirt, making her arm ache. It was too big on her lithe frame, but it was better than nothing. She put on the white t-shirt that Peter had packed for her, this time being careful not to jostle her arm too much. She kicked off her boots, and shimied out of her skirt and what scraps were left of her nylons. She quickly got out her blue sweatpants and put then on, nervous that Peter, May, or one of his friends could have walked in at any moment.

With her pants on, she sat down on the edge of the bed to think. Her mind grazed over what had happened over the day. Lila could hardly believe any of had happened. She full well knew that there were plently of villians in New York, but for one to target her and her sister specificly? She groaned and ran her free hand through her strawberry blond hair that wouldn't stop falling in her face. She searched one of the front pockets of the bag for a hair tie, and smiled when she finally did. It was only then that sher realised that she wouldn't be able to put her hair up by herself. She groaned, grabbed the bag, and padded out into the hallway. She left the bag at the wall near May's door before heading to the kitchen. She kept her eyes to the ground when she walked in, avoided the gazes of everyone in the room.

"Hey Pete, could you put my hair up for me?" she asked, holding the loop of fabric and elastic out to him, trying to roll in in between her fingers. Peter took it from her and turned his chair around to face her

"Sure thing," he replied. She sat down on the floor in front of him, legs crossed. He pulled back all of her hair, combing his fingers through it to get rid of any knots. He stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth as he tried putting her hair in a bun. He somewhat succeeded, granted there was hair sticking out everywhere, it did get it out of her face like she had wanted. A strand or two was loose, but it didn't bother her. Ophelia stood up and pecked him on the lips.

"Thanks," she said quietly, pulling him into an awkward one arm hug. She walked over to the fridge, past Sam who was in the middle of eating something, and pulled out a box full of leftover pizza. Her stomach was hurting from how hungry she was, and soon turned ravenous. She put four slices on a plate and popped it in the microwave. She stood silently, waiting for the beeps to go off before she pulled it out, quickly setting the hot plate down on the counter. She pulled a soda from the fridge. She hopped up, sitting on the edge of the counter and opened the can and bit into the pizza wth a hungry frenzy. Yeah she was hungry, but this was something compeltely different. Ophelila was really sensitive about her weight, like, really, really sensitive. She watched what she ate, counted calories, drank lots of water, ate fruits and veggies, had a gym membership, and only divulged on foods like pizza every once in a while, and she never drank soda.

"Lila, are you alright?" Peter asked, getting up from where he was sitting. She had already polished off one slice in the minute, not caring that her mouth was burning. She was positivly _starving _and had grabbed the first thing she saw, not caring that it was pizza and soda. She was scarfing the second slice when Peter walked up placing a hand on her shoulder.

She nodded, mouth full of food. She swallowed and washed it down with some soda. "Yeah," she told him, her voice exasperated. She bit into her slice again, not caring about manners, which was something she held in high regards. "Ugh I'm starving," she moaned around her mouth full of food. It was like he was seeing a someone else, like someone had drained her personality and mind set and uploaded a completely different person. She devoured the rest of the slices and chugged the can of soda. She burped and crushed the can in her hand, tossing it into the trash. Peter's compulsion failed and he put his hand to her forehead. The rest of his team, not knowing much about Ophelia, did not show much concern other than Peter was pretty much freaking out.

"Christ Lila! You're burning up!" She didn't seem upset at all by this, and merely smiled at him contently, her face in pure serenity. Peter pulled her off of the couter, his hands gripped on her upper arms. Her face was flush, more so than usual. Danny was already handing Peter a thermometer. He tried getting it in her mouth, but since she was now eating an apple that was in the fruit bowl, it didn't work out too well. He ended up sticking it under her armpit while she ate. He started freaking out when the tempurature turned out to be 102.4.

Ophelia waved him off. "Dude 'm fine, just a little warm from healing 's all." She tried walking over to throw the apple core into the trash, but her legs wobbled, and she almost fell only after the first step. Luckily Peter had grabbed her before she hit the floor. "Okay maybe I'm not." Luke stepped in then to pick her up, which she weakly protested against, and carried her up to Peter's room, everyone else following after him. He dropped her in his bed, and she was out cold as soon as her head hit the matress, snoring.

Peter sighed and sat down on the corner of his bed. He yawned, followed by a few of the others. "I think it's time to go to bed you guys, we have school and training tomorrow, and it's already pretty late." Everyone mumbled and shuffled in agreement, and retreated to their respective rooms to get dressed and sleep, Sam in basement, Ava in May's room, Luke in the living room, and Danny on an air matress in Peter's room.

Danny and Peter didn't speak a single word while they got changed in their pajamas. The room was unnaturally warm, from what both assumed was the girl who slept as soundly as a cat in Peter's bed. They turned off the lights and said their good nights. Peter could hardly sleep, his mind buzzing about what had happened. The nervousness was like an active hive buzzing around in his head. He eventually was calmed down by the soft noises his girlfriend made, and was soon lulled to sleep by her warmth.


End file.
